Fiddling with edu betrayal of nation

   By Vijay Darda | 21-04-2025

Unfortunately, Maharashtra too has joined the list of states involved in education scams; what kind of generation will fake teachers produce?

After states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tripura and West Bengal made headlines for scams in the education sector, Maharashtra’s name too has now, unfortunately, been added to this list. I am extremely shocked. What is happening in our state? Who is responsible for it? On one hand, we talk about improving the quality of education in our state and on the other, we see recruitment scams and multi-crore salary frauds involving fake teachers occurring in our state.

Shortly after the investigation into this scam started in the Nagpur division, reports emerged from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar about several cases where people had obtained PhDs using fake certificates. I remember, during my tenure in the Rajya Sabha, I raised the issue of PhD scams multiple times and said that PhD degrees were being obtained on a large scale through plagiarism. And now, fake certificates are being used even for filing nominations. It troubles me even to think what a teacher with forged documents will teach the students?

It is hard to believe that 580 appointments were made in 12 schools in the Nagpur division and officials from the school level to the ministry of education had no idea. To state it in brief, some school managements, in collusion with officials, used fake login IDs on the government portal to enter the names of teachers and staff. Appointments were shown as backdated and crores of rupees were siphoned off as arrears. This might have continued unchecked if a few officials hadn’t realised something was wrong and refused to be a part of it. It is said that some big politicians are involved too. Once a proper investigation is conducted, the names will come out.

When the directorate of education in Pune got wind of the scam, it asked 304 schools to submit recruitment reports of teaching and non-teaching staff hired between 2019 and 2025. Along with approval details, appointment dates and sanction letters, they were also asked to provide salary bills. The schools sent a list of 1,056 appointments but did not provide detailed information because the appointments were actually made later while salaries were being claimed from earlier dates. The education department officer from Nagpur, Nilesh Waghmare, who has been suspended for involvement in the scam, held considerable influence in the department. It is said he often boasted about his “uncle” being in the ministry. Will the investigators ever find out who this uncle really is? Another arrested officer, Nilesh Meshram, is reportedly the owner of three schools himself! As the investigation progresses, many layers of this scam will unfold. Let’s wait for now!

During the tenure of Prithviraj Chavan as chief minister, when my younger brother Rajendra Darda was the education minister of Maharashtra, he had exposed a major scam involving schools that were operating by enrolling bogus students. At that time, the secretary to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shrikar Pardeshi was the collector of Nanded. He gave a presentation before the then education minister Rajendra Darda, revealing that the number of students on record in some schools in Nanded was far greater than the actual number of students present. Rajendra Darda informed the Cabinet in its meeting that he was going to launch an intensive statewide drive to inspect all schools. The then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and other ministers supported the initiative. This was significant because many of those schools were owned by influential individuals or their associates. Rajendra Darda formed a team comprising Pardeshi and two other officials. They launched a massive three-day investigation, the biggest the country had seen up to that point and it yielded major results. At the time, the government records showed 2.18 crore students, but the investigation found that 12 lakh of those students didn’t exist at all. The names on record were entirely fake. Clearly, crores of rupees towards payment of teachers, textbooks, notebooks, mid-day meals and other essentials were being misappropriated in the name of those 12 lakh fake students. It is estimated that this drive by Rajendra Darda saved the government around Rs 100 crore annually. One thing is crystal clear that ever since the implementation of pay scales for teachers and the provision of government-recommended salaries to teachers in aided schools, these scams have increased significantly. From the bottom to the top, people at every level are involved. It is nothing less than the loot of taxpayers’ money.

I am astonished that this is happening in our country where education is considered a sacred pursuit. But now, schools and colleges are increasingly being referred to as “establishments” reflecting a mindset that sees education as a business. You would be shocked to learn that there are many such profiteers in the education sector who own multiple flats worth hundreds of crores in big cities.

Remember, there is no greater blessing in society than education. Only when we create conditions for quality education can we produce quality students and teachers. Only then can we proudly say to the world that Ramayan is ours, Bhagavad Gita is ours. Today, universities around the world are studying Ramayan, Bhagavad Gita and Mahabharat, while we, at home, are becoming bereft of it. You don’t have to give anything — just give education! If one child from a poor household gets access to education, he or she transforms the entire family. Education is the only force with the power to bring about true change. I’ve seen millionaires become bankrupt, but I’ve also seen people with education reach the pinnacle of success. In my view, fiddling with education is not just betrayal of oneself but of the nation as well. I am confident that the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will bring these traitors to justice. And he has with him his secretary Pardeshi, who has the experience to catch such traitors!

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